Scalable Notification Delivery Service

1. A notification service system in a network environment comprised of one or more computers or devices such as mobile devices that serve as notification sources, meaning that such computer or devices serve as sources where notifications are generated in response to an event, such notifications being generated in a network format comprised of an XML document included within an HTTP post request or included within a SOAP message that is included within an HTTP post request, and wherein the network is also comprised of one or more computers or devices that serve as notification sinks, meaning that such computer or devices serve as destinations on the network where the generated notifications are to be sent, the notification service system comprising: at least one processor; and at least one storage media storing a listener component, a routing component and a delivery component that are configured to implement, with the at least one processor, a method for delivering the notifications from a notification service that scales the notifications to the number and variety of notification sources and notification sinks at the time such notifications are generated and delivered, wherein the method comprises: (a) receiving, at the listening component, a notification generated by a notification source in a network format comprised of an XML document included within an HTTP post request, notification content of the notification being structured within the XML document that identifies data including a category of notification and transform operations associated with the category that may be performed on notifications of the particular category; (b) translating the notification into an internal processing format; (c) forwarding the translated notification to the routing component where categorizations of notifications that may be received are stored in an XML configuration document wherein each of the categories has associated transform operations that may be performed for that category; (d) referencing the configuration XML document at the router component to determine a category associated with the notification, and performing at the router component one or more of the associated transform operations on the notification content of the XML document; (e) forwarding the notification from the routing component to the delivery component for delivery to the notification sinks of the network; (f) changing the XML configuration document at the router by adding or deleting nodes of the XML document to add or delete different categories of notifications, and editing transform operations consistent with the added or deleted categories; and (g) repeating parts (a) through (e) for any subsequent notification corresponding to the changed categories of notifications.

2. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises a step for scaling the notification service in order to take into account the changes in the number of notification sources or notification sinks on the network, the scaling being performed by, providing the listener, routing and delivery components of the notification service with a plurality of identical modules for performing the functions of the listener, routing and delivery components; providing each of the listener, routing and delivery components with a load balancing function that distributes a received notification to one of the modules of that component; and changing the number of modules at one or more of the listener, routing and delivery components in order to take into account changes in the number of notifications sources or notification sinks on the network.

3. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the listener component of the notification service receives the notification from a wireless device.

4. The notification service system of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises: an act of delivering the notification to a mobile service provider.

5. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the listener component of the notification service receives the notification from a mobile service provider.

6. The notification service system of claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises: an act of delivering the notification to a wireless device.

7. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of referencing the configuration XML document at the router component to determine a category associated with the notification comprises: determining that the notification is an instant message.

8. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of referencing the configuration XML document at the router component to determine a category associated with the notification comprises the following: an act of failing to detect any category associated with the notification; and an act of determining that the notification is of a default category based on the failure to detect any category associated with the notification.

9. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of referencing the configuration XML document at the router component to determine a category associated with the notification comprises: determining that the notification is a buddy list related notification.

10. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of referencing the configuration XML document at the router component to determine a category associated with the notification comprises: determining that the notification is a news related notification.

11. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of referencing the configuration XML document at the router component to determine a category associated with the notification comprises: determining that the notification is a mobile-originated notification.

12. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: determining whether to check that the notification should be muted.

13. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: accessing a user profile associated with a sender or receiver of the notification.

14. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: authenticating the notification by verifying whether a user account is disabled or authorized.

15. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: inserting an advertisement into the notification.

16. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: formatting the notification for the destination device.

17. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: determining whether a user has exceeded a message limit.

18. The notification service system of claim 1 , wherein the act of performing one or more transform operations on the notification content based on the category associated with the notification comprises: determining the transform operations to perform based on the category.

19. The notification service system of claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises an act of determining the order of operations to perform based on the category.